David, I've always gotten a kick out of Buckner having a photo of himself on his own desk. To me, this simply implies that Buckner thought very highly of himself. Or in other words, the guy was stuck on himself. This was the sort of thing which must really have irritated Roger about his "uncle".

And if you notice there is the same picture in his home...only in B&W......maybe he thought he was sexy!

I've said it before but will gladly do it again in this thread. "Short Fuse" succeeds solely from style (cast, music, cinematography, and directorial techniques) but substance wise it's on shaky ground, because there is just no way Roger could ever have made his whole grand scheme work unless he ended up bumping off both William Windom and Anne Francis at some point. The stylish execution though keeps one from realizing it until you've seen the episode several times and try to logically plot out just how Roger was pulling this off, which is a point ultimately in its favor, but I think it needed some tightening in the writing overall.

That said, I would rate "Short Fuse" better than two other first season episodes, "Dead Weight" and "Lady In Waiting."

I just saw "Short Fuse" for the first time.
I agree with the rest of you...the music is
superb, a lot of great camera work, a lot
of colorful sets and shots. I also like
the scene where they are driving the cart
through the chemical plant--this reminds
me of the supermarket scene in "Double
Exposure". They both give the viewer
a lot to look
at besides the actors. Of course
the final lengthy scene in the tram
car is really great. BTW-the aerial
tram is called "the Palm Springs
Aerial Tram". Its bottom is near
Palm Springs, California and the top
is on Mt San Jacinto which is about
at 10,000 ft altitude. The original
Mission Impossible had a episode with a
fight scene
where two men duked it out on top
of the car...really scary. There is
another great aerial tram scene in
the 1960's World War II movie "Where
Eagles Dare" with Richard Burton
and Clint Eastwood.

I do not think Buckner thought extra highly of himself. The picture was there as a prop, for Roger to put it face down and for Columbo to notice that he did so. Nothing more.

Strange that this is my favorite episode. One of not many in which someone named David gets killed.

I was really just joking about the picture.

Yup...A David kicks the bucket!

I prefer "Lady in Waiting" to "Short Fuse" because "Lady" at least had some good clues, and I thought Susan Clark performed adequately. The final clue is too obvious, but it was a believable mistake for Beth Chadwick to make in her panic...it just should not have taken Columbo 90 minutes to discover it! However, it is not believable that Roger Stanford could not see through Columbo's trap.

But "Dead Weight" is skimpy in the clues department, although the plot is slightly more suspenseful than "Short Fuse" and the final clue is mildly interesting. And I enjoy Suzanne Pleshette's character.

Looking at it im not that big a fan of season 1. Short fuse, lady in waiting and Dead weight i dont like for a few reasons, dead weight being the most annoying as as soon as the general goes dating Helen Stewart anyone would know he was guilty of murder, an incredibly stupid move.

Going back to short fuse, yes he's meant to be but quite simply Roger is irritating and makes it far to easy for Columbo to catch him which completely ruins it unlike How to dial a murder which yes its easy for Columbo in the end but its a wonderful episode that i love to see.

God bless,

Matthew

Roger's arrogance and enthusiasm makes for a strong sense of self-confidence. Keeping his great self-confidence in mind, I do not believe it is such a cinch that he will fall into Columbo's trap. Regardless, the final scene helps to make "Short Fuse" end with a bang (not literally.)

Without going into specifics about the final gottcha (Heaven knows cassa doesn't want to be a "SPOILER" ) I think Columbo (or who ever did it) makes the piece of evidence look quite authentic..and at this point Roger is sinking deeper and deeper into his complicated plot...so maybe his mind was a bit rattled and he wasn't thinking clearly or rationally.

The final scene of "Short Fuse" was very well directed, well coordinated with the flashback to the opening darkroom scene and the building tension. Terrific work by Edward Abroms, who also did an excellent job directing the final scene of "The Most Dangerous Match" one season later.